Artist: Richard Martinez

Exhibition Title: Rising & Gliding

Exhibition Dates: September 16 to October 31

Lecture: October 3, 3 pm in P201

Reception: October 3, following the lecture

Rising & Gliding is an exhibition that features a selection of works by artist Richard Martinez (1965-2020). The artwork in this show expresses a deeply personal visual language that intertwines culture, art history, and the pure act of painting. The shaped paintings create a connection between baroque and Hispanic cultural elements while simultaneously referencing Modernist painters like Frank Stella and Elsworth Kelly. The artwork is primarily non-representational and does not lead to a specific or singular narrative, but rather allows for each individual to freely explore the possibilities of meaning that can arise by experiencing the work.

In an artist statement for the 2018 exhibition entitled Poetics of Place at Walla Walla University, Martinez said this about his work and process, “For me, it has been tension between a few things like; subjectivity/objectivity, Hispanic/Western cultures, ornate/Modernist painting and shaped canvas, objects/invisible windows. Living as a Mexican-American in this time and place has been influential. Tension between fitting into community and being “us” is always there. Many customs like language, stories, food always provides alternative ways of seeing.”

Richard Martinez (1965-2020) grew up in the Pacific Northwest and earned a BFA from Southern Oregon University, and an MFA from the University of California, Davis. At the time of his passing, Richard was an Associate Professor of painting at Whitman College, in Walla Walla, WA. Before this he was an Associate Professor of painting at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Highlights of his exhibition history include solo shows at galleries in Houston, and San Antonio, Texas, as well as Portland, Oregon, and Sacramento, California.  His work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions across the United States.  Notable exhibitions and features include Texas Biennial 2011, Austin, TX, Magnetic Fields, at SW School of Art, San Antonio, TX, and Divergent Strategies, Bush Barn Art Center, Salem, OR, Artist Trust Fellowship Award and the periodical New American Paintings.

Gallery Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 8 am to 8 pm 
Friday: 8 am to  noon 

The Esvelt Gallery would like to thank the ASCBC for their support.

For more information, please email the CBC Gallery Director at gallerydirector@columbiabasin.edu.